The present invention relates to flexure arrangements, suitable for use with or as part of e.g. an optical beam steering arrangement, and intended for supporting and transmitting movement to any appropriate element.
The closest prior art known to the applicant is disclosed in PCT/GB01/00062 which is one of the applicant's own patent applications.
One of the objectives of the invention is to further improve beam steering arrangements which are capable of being assembled to form optical switches with a large number of input and output ports while being of minimal sizes. The invention aims therefore to further improve the compactness of beam steering arrangements.
Another objective of the invention is to render the arrangements simple to manufacture and assemble. In order to achieve this, reducing the complexity of an optical switch is an important consideration.
A further objective of the arrangements with which this invention is concerned is to provide an even further accurate steering facility to achieve higher quality switching.
A particular objective of the inventive arrangements is to achieve a greater angular swing of any element destined to be displaced by the arrangements which is far greater than the movement applied to the arrangement. Achieving an enhanced scale of amplification of movement will be an important factor in achieving the objective of compactness mentioned above.
Other considerations such as longevity and costs are also taken into account in the design of these arrangements.
One of the objectives of this invention is to provide a reduction of the beam actuators length as compared to the prior art system.
A further objective of the invention is to offer a new approach to providing the orientation and support of an optical element such as a collimator while achieving the required high level of accuracy and long term dependability.
An additional aim of the current invention is to improve the assembly of any individual components to the arrangement, thus rendering the arrangement altogether more practical.
A further objective of this invention is to present an improved kind of two dimensional (2D) piezoelectric actuator.